Mass changes for Highlanders

Changes galore. That’s what you see when you look at the team Highlanders coach Aaron Mauger has named to play the Rebels in Dunedin tomorrow.

All Blacks Ben Smith, Aaron Smith and Luke Whitelock have all been spelled, as per the agreement between the All Blacks and the Super Rugby franchises, while centre Rob Thompson is also a notable absentee.

Loose forward Elliot Dixon and hooker Ash Dixon are also taking the week off, leaving openside flanker James Lentjes to captain the team.

Given a loss, and Waratahs and Jaguares wins, would result in the Highlanders heading to Sydney to play the Waratahs in the quarterfinals, rather than Johannesburg or Buenos Aires, you could be forgiven for wondering if the Highlanders are tanking.

However, the Smiths and Whitelock are sitting the match out to complete their second All Blacks rest week, and the others are being rested as the Highlanders target a playoff run.

‘‘It was always sort of part of the plan to give them one of these three [post international break] weeks off,’’ Mauger said.

‘‘Three weeks ago, we were hoping to put ourselves in a position to host a quarterfinal. Now that’s gone . . . we’re looking forward to the following week, having most of our senior players, our experienced leaders, fresher for finals footy.’’

The raft of changes mean Liam Squire will move from the blindside flank to start at No 8, making room for All Blacks bolter Shannon Frizell to make just his fourth start this year.

Thomas Umaga-Jensen slots into centre and will make his Super Rugby debut.

Josh Ioane, the team’s secondchoice first-five behind Lima Sopoaga, will start at fullback, while there’s also a rare appearance for utility Matt Faddes, who has only played in seven of the team’s 15 games this year.

‘‘Two things we looked at this week, was having a side which is really excited about playing at home . . . and the other one was making sure that now that we know we’re on the road for the quarterfinals, it’s a chance to freshen up a few bodies because most of those guys are going to be starting next week,’’ Mauger said.

Coming off consecutive 45-22 defeats, the 9-6 Highlanders need to knock over the Rebels to avoid their first three-match losing streak since 2014. It would also extend their winning streak in Dunedin to 11 matches.

The Highlanders head into the final week of the regular season in sixth place, and only a mammoth win against the Rebels, and an equally huge win by the Hurricanes over the Chiefs, would see them finish fifth.

Beat the Rebels and they will lock up sixth, but a loss could result in them dropping to seventh.

Tomorrow’s match is likely to be Wasps-bound Sopoaga’s last home match.

Meanwhile, Wallabies Will Genia, Dane Haylett-Petty and Adam Coleman have all been ruled out for the Rebels.

The key players all failed fitness tests.

Fullback Haylett-Petty (hyper extended knee) and halfback Genia (broken arm) both trained with the team on Wednesday but were deemed unready.

Coleman (adductor strain) was always unlikely to feature after missing training.